Do your staff know about age discrimination?

The survey from The Employers Forum on Age, also revealed that ageism was "rife" in UK workplaces and affected younger people as well as older employees. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations come into effect on 1 October.

According to the study, 16.6 million (61%) of working Britons have been aware of ageist behaviour in their workplace. Almost a third (31%) said they had worked somewhere where an older person doing exactly the same role as a younger person was being paid more due to their age.

Four in 10 (41%) have worked somewhere where people doing the same job were managed differently depending on their age.

Almost one in four (23%) had heard of a younger person in their workplace being overlooked for promotion in favour of an older person, regardless of their having more experience. Also, more than a quarter (27%) said that they had seen someone being employed because they were of a similar age to themselves and their colleagues, to ensure a "good team fit".

'Ageist attitudes'

EFA director Sam Mercer said: "As our research has confirmed, ageism is endemic in our society and rife in our workplaces. These attitudes need to be challenged and outlawed so that they become as unacceptable as sexism or racism.

"This legislation will help provide protection for people who feel that they have been discriminated against on grounds of their age. But as we've seen with gender and race legislation in the past, a change in the law marks just the beginning of a long journey towards tackling social prejudices."

He added: "It's down to us all as individuals to challenge our own ageist beliefs and ensure that, particularly at work, we make judgements based on skills and ability rather than age."

Mr Mercer went on to say that getting people to identify their own ageist attitudes could be difficult, particularly as most workers had a stereotypical idea of the perfect age for many professions.

When questioned, most people said police officers should be aged between 31 and 40, bar staff should be under 30, judges over 40 and chief executives aged between 41 and 50. Overall, only one in six (15%) gave a response of "any age", or "depends on experience", the study found.

Staff training

Ted Kenrick, technical services manager at Norwich Union Risk Services, said that a lack of awareness among workers concerning the new age regulations highlighted a need for better communication among some employers.

He told us: "Training of staff is a key element to ensuring compliance with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations. If workers are unaware of the new rules - as this latest research would suggest - then the implication is that some organisations have left it too late to inform their staff.

"Not only should employers have put their age discrimination policies in place by now, but staff should also have been made fully aware of what is no longer acceptable at work from 1 October."

He added that information available through the Norwich Union Risk Services website (see 'feature' link above/right) could help employers to explain the new rules to their workforce, but having their own accessible policy was "essential".